It is desirable for golf course putting greens to consistently have a short healthy grass covering with little packing of the soil. From foot traffic, mowing, and fertilizing, the greens tend to become too packed for healthy grass and proper playing surface. Commonly the greens then must be aerated once or twice during a playing season. Currently this is usually done by tractor pulling a tineing machine to punch holes about 10 inches deep and about 4" apart. Sand or sand soil like mixture is then spread and raked over the greens in order to level and fill the holes left by the tineing machine. This method has several undesirable features including packing under the tractor wheels, hand labor for raking and filling holes, two to three day grass recovery time for the green to be in proper playing condition and a slow but certain build up.
The present invention solves the problems as outlined as follows:
a) a special dual track machine with total weight such as to put less pressure on the grass per square inch than a man walking is equipped to punch holes straight down with a hollow core tine; and PA1 b) to eject the core from the tine through a hose to an off the greens container; PA1 c) to fracture the ground around each hole by an air blast as the tine reaches maximum depth; PA1 d) to fill holes automatically by propelling sand in a measured quantity into each hole; PA1 e) to settle, level, and crimp sand in each hole to leave an immediately playable surface.
The machine is so constructed with moving pans properly integrated so that tines are pushed straight down and pulled straight up with no bending moment even though the machine is moving. Further the machine is equipped with sufficient sensors, a microprocessor unit and video display to continuously monitor and display all significant operating parameters of the total unit. The invention as claimed and described provides not only a better way for re-working golf course greens but also reduces manual labor and is a more economical way to return the greens to essentially an immediately playable surface.